In the art of conveying from a pile paper stock items such as sheets of paper or envelopes or the like the use of gravity feed conveyors, to which this invention pertains, is known. Such feeders have on common deficiency in that they usually feed erratically. A high stack of items in bottom feed conveyors entails high static loads on the bottom item and it is difficult to pull out each item from the bottom without the overburden of stock items shifting toward the feeding mechanisms such as metering rollers into which the items gravitate. Unless only small piles are maintained in the stock magazine, which requires constant attendance of an operator, the feeding sequence is frustrated in that more than one item will feed through or the mechanism will jam.